How the traditional Indonesian fabric is making a comeback

Batik is making a comeback as designers undertake the age-old fabric-making method in inventive methods and customers embrace sluggish vogue in favour of sustainability.

Textiles don’t simply serve a practical function – they usually are heritage crafts that seize the distinctive artwork and historical past of various cultures. Batik is one such instance that’s identifiable instantly, whether or not for individuals in Southeast Asia, the place it’s generally seen and worn, and even these in different components of the globe. Simply consider the Singapore Woman and her iconic batik sarong kebaya uniform. The floral-motif material it’s made out of has turn out to be synonymous with Singapore Airways, and is probably probably the most recognisable type of fashionable batik the world over.

Its modern industrial purposes apart, batik truly has a historical past that goes far again in time. Based on Unesco, it’s considered over 1,000 years outdated, with historic proof indicating its use in components of Africa, Asia and the Center East. The reality, nevertheless, is that nobody can pinpoint precisely the place and when it originated from. However the type of batik that we’re acquainted with at this time is an Indonesian, or extra precisely, Javanese creation that’s at the very least 300 years outdated.

Indonesian batik was added to Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity record in 2009, and is formally recognised as a historic material. The normal approach of constructing it’s extremely labour-intensive and utilises a wax-resist material dyeing method: Earlier than the material is dyed, patterns are “drawn” onto it by hand with molten wax, utilizing a device often known as a canting, or manually stamped on with handcrafted sample blocks.

The dye doesn’t take in into the areas which have wax on them, which explains how designs and motifs are then transposed to the material. The identical course of might be repeated a number of instances relying on how sophisticated or intricate the ultimate design is.

Rekindling The Love

At Batik Kita: Dressing in Port Cities, an ongoing exhibition till Oct 2 on the Asian Civilisations Museum, this age-old type of textile artwork is spotlighted through the showcase of some 100 batik masterpieces. Moreover historic items that spotlight the evolution of batik artistry and methods, the present additionally consists of modern creations that show how the artwork kind nonetheless has a spot in fashionable vogue.

The exhibition’s curator, Lee Chor Lin, is in search of to “rekindle {our relationships} right here with batik – from when it was the frequent costume of the multi-ethnic and syncretic societies in port cities, to the sartorial resolution of singling out batik for work garments by our grandparents and fogeys –relying on how outdated one is, and the brand new re-encounters we’ve got with batik”.

She elaborates, “Whereas batik was historically made for the royal courts of Java through the seventeenth century, it grew in reputation amongst different ethnic teams residing in all main port cities and coastal cities. Batik itself has charted the evolution of recent identities within the newly fashioned nations of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Even in vogue, it has turn out to be a solution to convey collectively counterparts from the area, whether or not it’s in enterprise, politics or leisure.”

At Batik Kita, one may also catch a uncommon sight of the batik shirts worn by Singapore’s prime ministers – previous and current – to official occasions.

Conventional batik could have been on the top of vogue within the olden days, however as textile-printing applied sciences turned extra subtle and vogue tendencies modified, it naturally light in reputation, although fortunately not into obscurity. With the assistance of presidency promotion and funding, in addition to the increase in curiosity from the Unesco itemizing subsequently, the craft stays alive in locations like Java, regardless that it was not simple to get the youthful generations to contemplate adopting the artwork for a residing.

Quick-forward to present instances and curiously, issues are wanting very totally different for batik craft in Southeast Asia. Maybe it’s as a result of arrival of social media, or a resurgence of the curiosity in conventional handcrafts (sarcastically introduced on by an more and more digital fashionable life-style), the artwork is driving a contemporary wave of recognition as designers discover new methods to use the fabric-making method and promote
their craft and wares.

The Singapore Wave

Native designer Tan Sheau Yun – additionally the founding father of Tong Tong Friendship Retailer, recognized for its Chinese language-inspired vogue – is amongst them. She was commissioned by the Asian Civilisations Museum to supply three outfits for the Batik Kita exhibition. One specific piece amongst these creations – a figure-hugging cheongsam crafted out of a vibrantly colored batik material depicting whimsical desk settings – is the right instance of how batik can cross cultures and be utilized in a stunning and inventive method. The identical print can be featured in a retail assortment in Tan’s retailer, as a part of a just lately launched line that’s centred on batik.

Batik has at all times been round in Tan’s life. “Rising up in Nineteen Seventies Singapore, batik was one thing I noticed my dad and mom put on day-to-day. My mum would sew her personal batik cheongsams that she wore to work, and my dad would put on batik shirts too. Then, once I volunteered as a information on the Nationwide Museum and Asian Civilisations Museum, I had the chance to study in regards to the historical past, methods and aesthetics of batik. So, it was fairly pure that
I considered creating batik cheongsams once I began Tong Tong,” she says.

She explains how she makes batik extra accessible and related for contemporary instances: “After I work with extra traditional-looking batik (similar to Javanese brown batik soga), I’ll pair it with one thing surprising or fashionable, like denim, to freshen it up. Consolation and wearability are additionally key – these days, individuals discover the batik sarong cumbersome or impractical, so I reimagined it as an easy-to-wear bubble skirt.”

Batik can be a key characteristic at Nost, a home-grown loungewear and homeware label that companions with artisan households and weak communities to create heritage materials. Moreover supporting conventional textile makers and their craft, the model additionally focuses on sustainable supplies and timeless types that may be worn time and again.

Its founder, Felicia Toh, hopes to protect fragile heritage craftsmanship in Asia in order that these textiles can proceed to be crafted for generations to return. “We work with batik artisans primarily based in Java, who benefit from their craft. I discover the cautious crafting of the batik stamps out of effective copper strips so fascinating. The artisan makes use of our architecture-inspired motifs as a blueprint, bending and forming the copper strips into the motifs of the batik stamp –it’s such an intricate artwork kind,” she provides.

She laments how the manufacturing of clothes has turn out to be one thing distant and consumerist at this time. “It’s not like how, previously, clothes was custom-made for you by a neighbourhood tailor or your mom. That’s maybe why we eat and get rid of vogue so shortly; the preciousness behind who made our clothes and the way it was made has been misplaced. Artisan-made clothes is usually inherently sustainable – the weaving of materials on a loom consumes no electrical energy, and the dyes utilized by the artisans we work with are natural or freed from azo (an artificial compound).”

Dwelling of Change

BINhouse Indonesian Creation, a longtime batik maker in Indonesia, shares the identical perception. “Clearly, when batik is became vogue and with many accessible selections on the market, there’s a vibrant market for it. Based mostly on our expertise, our purchasers actually worth how our creations are usually not mass-produced. In our perspective, it’s about creating sustainable items that final. We do that with respect to custom, whereas on the similar time being conscious of the modern wants of our on a regular basis life-style, similar to using cotton, which is a extra breathable materials best for tropical climate,” says its head of selling and gross sales communications, Airlangga Sjah Komara.

He reveals that the batik-making course of at BINhouse begins on the very starting, usually even within the choice of yarn, for the reason that model weaves its personal material. “We’re in a position to innovate at totally different levels of manufacturing, similar to when the material is being dyed, and so forth. Typically, we could use textured woven silk for a unique feel and look, or maybe clashing colors, or combining motifs that aren’t often positioned collectively. However I’d chorus from describing it as ‘fashionable‘ as what this implies usually is determined by the attention of the beholder,” he explains, preferring to name such improvements contemporary takes on batik. He stresses that conventional types of batik stay vital to the model, because it additionally produces creations which are impressed by conventional batik colors and motifs.

Within the spirit of inventive exploration, BINhouse has additionally just lately teamed up with the Nanyang Academy of Tremendous Arts and the Asian Civilisations Museum for Fashioning Batik, a design showcase and occasion wherein younger designers put their very own contact on BINhouse materials and switch them into
fashionable menswear.

“It has been very memorable, as a result of it allowed us to view our batik by the eyes of the youthful era. Such experiences assist us perceive the chances and potential of batik not simply in Indonesia, but in addition within the area. I believe it is a vital course of to undergo to introduce batik, in order that persons are not afraid of sporting batik and understanding it,” concludes Komara, highlighting how innovation can usually be that one surprising device that may maintain a conventional artwork going.

(Important and featured picture: Asian Civilisation Museum)

This story first appeared within the Sep 2022 situation of Status Singapore.